Deuterated proteins and other bio-derived molecules are important for NMR spectroscopy, neutron reflectometry, small angle neutron scattering, and neutron protein crystallography. In the current study we optimized expression media and cell culture conditions to produce high levels of 3 different deuterated human carbonic anhydrases (hCAs). The labeled hCAs were then characterized and tested for deuterium incorporation by mass spectrometry, temperature stability, and propensity to crystallize. The results show that is possible to get very good yields (> 10 mg of pure protein per liter of cell culture under deuterated conditions) and that protein solubility is unaffected at the crystallization concentrations tested. Using unlabeled carbon source and recycled heavy water, we were able to get 65-77% deuterium incorporation, sufficient for most neutron-based techniques, and in a very cost-effective way. For most deuterated proteins characterized in the literature, the solubility and thermal stability is reduced. The data reported here is consistent with these observations and it was clear that there are measurable differences between hydrogenous and deuterated versions of the same protein in T-m and how they crystallize.

Human carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX) expression is upregulated in hypoxic solid tumours, promoting cell survival and metastasis. This observation has made CA IX a target for the development of CA isoform-selective inhibitors. To enable structural studies of CA IX–inhibitor complexes using X-ray and neutron crystallography, a CA IX surface variant (CA IX_SV; the catalytic domain with six surface amino-acid substitutions) has been developed that can be routinely crystallized. Here, the preparation of protiated (H/H), H/D-exchanged (H/D) and deuterated (D/D) CA IX_SVfor crystallographic studies and their structural comparison are described. Four CA IX_SVX-ray crystal structures are compared: two H/H crystal forms, an H/D crystal form and a D/D crystal form. The overall active-site organization in each version is essentially the same, with only minor positional changes in active-site solvent, which may be owing to deuteration and/or resolution differences. Analysis of the crystal contacts and packing reveals different arrangements of CA IX_SVcompared with previous reports. To our knowledge, this is the first report comparing three different deuterium-labelled crystal structures of the same protein, marking an important step in validating the active-site structure of CA IX_SVfor neutron protein crystallography.

Up-regulation of carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX) expression is an indicator of metastasis and associated with poor cancer patient prognosis. CA IX has emerged as a cancer drug target but development of isoform-specific inhibitors is challenging due to other highly conserved CA isoforms. In this study, a CA IXmimic construct was used (CA II with seven point mutations introduced, to mimic CA DC active site) while maintaining CA II solubility that make it amenable to crystallography. The structures of CA IXmimic unbound and in complex with saccharin (SAC) and a saccharin-glucose conjugate (SGC) were determined using joint X-ray and neutron protein crystallography. Previously, SAC and SGC have been shown to display CA isoform inhibitor selectivity in assays and X-ray crystal structures failed to reveal the basis of this selectivity. Joint X-ray and neutron crystallographic studies have shown active site residues, solvent, and H-bonding re-organization upon SAC and SGC binding. These observations highlighted the importance of residues 67 (Asn in CA II, Gln in CA IX) and 130 (Asp in CA II, Arg in CA IX) in selective CA inhibitor targeting.